Monday, 17 December 2012

Nelson Mandela still in hospital

As the sun sets the anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela will clock a eleveth day in undisclosed hospital in the capital Pretoria, South Africa.

Mandela who was being treated at 1 Military hospital in Pretoria was later transferred to undisclosed private hospital where he was operated after being found with gallstones which went successful.

However the Presidency on Thursday declined to confirm a report that former
president Nelson Mandela was not being treated in 1 Military Hospital as initially thought.

“The Presidency has been consistent that (Mr Mandela) is in a hospital
in Pretoria and avoided identifying the precise hospital for reasons
regarding the privacy for Madiba and his family,” spokesman Mac Maharaj
said.

He said this was to ensure his treatment was administered in the most conducive conditions for his recovery.

“For those reasons we have avoided disclosing the precise hospital.”

A
large contingent of journalists from local and international media have
been camping outside the 1 Military Hospital since Saturday.Earlier on
Thursday President Jacob Zuma said Mr Mandela was "recuperating" in
hospital.

Mandela has been hospitalized since Dec. 8 for tests and later medical treatment for a recurrent lung infection.

President Jacob Zuma and delegates at a convention for the African
National Congress political party honored Mandela on Sunday in song.

Mandela was a leader of the ANC and served as the nation's first democratically elected president under the party's banner.

Mandela is revered for being a leader of the struggle against racist
white rule in South Africa. He served one five-year term as president
before retiring from public life.